New York City's carriage horse industry is in for a shakeup after a
report by the city's comptroller said the city must take its role in
ensuring the welfare of the horses more seriously. In the audit released
in June, New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr. called on
the City departments of Consumer affairs and Health and Mental Hygiene
to strengthen their oversight of the City's carriage-horse industry.

In the past several years there have been many accidents between
carriages and vehicles, which in some cases have resulted in horse
deaths. Recent incidents include a collision in July, and another in
June. Horses were injured in both incidents.

The audit has renewed calls for a ban on the carriage horse industry.

"This report simply confirms what we have said all along: that it is
impossible for this industry to operate humanely in NYC. Drivers
continuously disobey the law and there is no one (ASPCA, DoH or DCA)
there to stop them," said a spokesman for the lobby group Coalition to
Ban Horse Drawn Carriages.

"The carriage-horse industry is an important part of our City's charm
and appeal for New Yorkers and tourists alike," Thompson said. "The City
must take its role more seriously to ensure the health and well-being of
carriage-horses and the regulation of the industry in general."

He also suggested an area within Central Park to house both carriage
and pleasure horses: "Not only would this serve as a popular attraction,
but it would keep the horses away from city traffic and allow their
health and welfare to be more easily monitored."

But this has met with disapproval from the Coalition to Ban Horse
Drawn Carriages: "Horses would still be stuck between the shafts of
their carriages for nine hours straight and continue to be the victims
of forced labour. Suggesting that the stables be built in Central Park
is irresponsible and not well thought out. It is not only a landmark but
the Central Park Conservancy is opposed to it. It would take up to two
acres of land and would still be run by the same incompetent agencies
and owners. Our Coalition is campaigning for an end to the horse-drawn
carriage industry in NYC on the grounds that it is inhumane to the
horses and is a safety and traffic issue for humans."

The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) and
the Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) are responsible for overseeing
and licensing the horses, carriage-horse drivers, carriages and stables.
DOHMH's Veterinary Public Health Services (VPHS) reviews and approves
carriage-horse license applications and Certificates of Health stating
that horses are able to work.

Thompson's audit analyzed whether DOHMH and DCA had adequate controls
over the licensing of carriage-horses, drivers, carriages, stables, and
comply with the City's applicable rules and regulations. The audit
covered July 1, 2005 to March 30, 2007.

The audit determined that, for more than 25 years, DOHMH has failed
to create a City-required Advisory Board, which could help to ensure
that rules overseeing the industry are current and cover topics such as
the size of horse stalls and age limits for horses.

"With the lack of such a board, regulations promoting the health,
safety, and well-being of the carriage-horses remain broad and general
in scope," Thompson said. "DOHMH, for example, has no written guidelines
regarding when and how often stables should be inspected. The agency's
veterinarian consultant only visited each of the stables five times in
calendar year 2006 and did not even examine the condition of any horses
in the field."

During the audit certain issues were brought to the auditors'
attention by the carriage-horse owners/drivers and American Society for
the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) officials that affect the
well-being of the horses, such as: no established hack stands (areas
identifying where carriages may pick up passengers); no water spigots in
areas where carriages wait to pick up passengers; inadequate drainage
where horses line up, leaving horses to stand in pools of dirty water;
and, materials such as concrete should be considered to replace asphalt
where horses lineup because it becomes very hot during the summer.
These, as well as other issues, could be addressed by the Advisory
Board.

Additionally, while DOHMH and DCA have regulatory responsibilities,
the ASPCA has voluntarily stepped in to perform much more monitoring
over the last few years. ASPCA officials told auditors they took it upon
themselves to increase their oversight of the carriage-horse industry
because they witnessed a decline in monitoring by the City. DOHMH and
DCA rely on the ASPCA to voluntarily perform inspections of the stables
and of the horses, drivers, and carriages in the field, which ASPCA
performs without a formal agreement.

"Without a formal agreement, DOHMH and DCA have relied upon yet have
no control over the ASPCA's voluntary monitoring activities," Thompson
said. "Since there is no official agreement regarding inspections, it is
possible that the ASPCA may need to reduce or curtail its activities at
some point, leaving a void in the oversight of the industry."

During Fiscal Year 2006, there were about 221 licensed horses, 293
licensed drivers, and 68 licensed carriages that provided horse-drawn
carriage rides to the public.

Additionally, Thompson's auditors uncovered the following:

In a review of VPHS files, 6 of the 143 Certificates of Health needed
to renew a license had notations on the back that stated the
certificates were received from DCA. Since DOHMH is required to ensure
that every licensed horse is examined by a New York State-licensed
veterinarian and is physically able to perform the work or duties
required of it, DCA should not have accepted these applications and
certificates, nor should they have issued a horse license or renewal.
Instead, DCA should have returned the documents to the owners for
submission to DOHMH for approval.

According to the Administrative Code, DCA should inspect all
horse-drawn carriages at least every four months and the results of
those inspections are to be on an inspection card displayed in the
carriage. DCA officials, however, said that they are not performing the
inspections because it would not be a good use of their resources and
instead send inspectors to the hack lines twice a year to perform
inspections. Further, when auditors visited carriages in the field,
drivers stated that they were never told about, nor did they receive,
the inspection cards.

Descriptive information on health certificates issued by
veterinarians attesting to the health of individual carriage-horses
often differed from one year to the next. The differing information
included age, color, breed and name of the horse. In one instance, a
horse was listed as a gelding (male) one year and a mare (female) the
next year.

Auditors, however, did cite some positive findings. Auditors made
unannounced visits to hack lines adjacent to Central Park and found that
carriages had current license plates, horses had brass tags with
identification numbers that matched the numbers branded into the hooves,
and drivers held current driver's licenses. Additionally, DOHMH files
contained the required training program and examinations to drivers of
horse-drawn carriages and maintained the Certificates of Health for the
horses. DCA files showed that it issued and renewed licenses to horses,
carriages, and drivers.

Comptroller Thompson made several recommendations, including the
establishment of regulations to promote the health, safety and
well-being of the carriage-horses, and the need for guidelines on the
regularity of veterinary inspections of horses at work and in their
stables.

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